Cory Booker, Steve Lonegan scrap in midday debate

The New Jersey Senate debate Friday between Democratic candidate Cory Booker and Republican rival Steven Lonegan was a case of “extremes.”

Both men took mallets to their rival as the real extremist in the race, with Booker – who has mostly ignored Lonegan until the polls started tightening – seeking to yoke the Republican to the government shutdown in Washington and the tea party movement.

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Lonegan pushed back hard, describing Booker “the real extremist” as he unloaded a full clip of one-liners about the Newark mayor’s Twitter habits, his fundraising travels out of state and his record in office. He called Booker’s views on abortion “barbaric”, insisting he supports the procedure up to right before a baby’s birth. Lonegan noted he himself is about to become a grandfather.

“I want to be known as the man who dismantled the IRS as we know it,” said Lonegan when asked what his signature achievement in office would be. At another point, when the topic of immigration came up, Lonegan talked about his experience as a business owner who employed Spanish-speaking worked.

“I didn’t assume they were illegal because they spoke Spanish,” he said.

The two candidates will get to do it all over again next week, when they have their second and final debate. This one, hosted by ABC affiliate WPBI, was taped Friday mid-day and will air Sunday morning.

From the outset, Booker tried to attach Lonegan to congressional Republicans who’ve called for defunding Obamacare as a condition of re-opening the federal government. Booker denounced “a fringe group of tea party people of which my opponent is a member.”

At another point, Booker said Lonegan, who opposes abortion rights even in the case of rape and incest, is trying to restrict the rights of women by opposing abortions. And Booker offered full-throated support for gay marriage, a week after a New Jersey judge ruled that gay marriages must begin in the state later this month.

“The ability to marry the person you love is one of the most fundamental liberties in America,” he said.

Lonegan, known for letting loose on the campaign trail and with reporters, was more engaging than his rival. But the debate was essentially seen as a draw. That favors Booker, who leads in the polls.

Lonegan’s most often-repeated line was a version of, “What New Jersey needs, sir, is a leader, not a tweeter.” He slammed Booker for supporting President Barack Obama’s agenda, saying, “Obamacare is an assault on our liberty.” And he ripped Booker for the unemployment rate in Newark.

But his harshest jabs at Booker were over the mayor’s personal finances. Lonegan criticized Booker’s severance agreement with the law firm he helped create, which has gotten work from Newark while he’s been mayor.

Lonegan called Booker’s own growing wealth the only real economic growth in the city, saying his severance from the law firm should be “investigated” and that he’s been “taking advantage of your position in office to [advance] your own wealth.”

At another point, Lonegan asked Booker if he’d ever held a job in college. But Booker was not rattled, laughing and shaking his head at the “epithets” Lonegan threw his way.

Booker insisted he’d given away most of what he made in paid speeches, which is technically true – he gave almost $500,000 away this year, according to his aides. But that was after he first claimed in March to have already given most of it away. Booker insisted he’d disclosed the terms of his severance agreement with the lawfirm Trent DiPasquale.

Pressed on that point by reporters after the debate, Booker said he had revealed the terms, although he never has given a detailed explanation for what the payouts from the law firm were for.

“I said clearly the buyout was based solely on my stake in the business,” he said. “Period.”

Pointing out that Lonegan had criticized him last week for how he’s said he’ll approach the job, in terms of bringing people together, as “Winnie the Pooh stuff,” Booker said, “I actually like Winnie the Pooh.”

Lonegan had a a different take.

“Mr. Booker attacks my conservative principles on which this nation was built — what he calls ‘extremism,’” he told reporters afterward. “You never heard substantial answers to the questions. … He opened up with all the name-calling. About extremism and the tea party. They must have done some polling and they found something in their polling about using the term, tea party. I want to talk about the real issues.”